MAI Review, 2007, 3, Doctoral Conference Abstracts Māori spaces in foreign places: The case of Hinemihi o te āo tawhito Keri Wikitera Tuhourangi/Ngāti Wahiao Auckland University of Technology Auckland, New Zealand
[email protected] This study is in the preliminary stages of a PhD candidature. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate Māori economic development opportunities in tourism. Many of which are intrinsically linked to cultural identity (Te Awekotuku, 1981; Ryan, 2002). This study aims to demonstrate that Māori notions of cultural identity are not confined to connections to geographical place alone. Cultural identity are socially created spaces dependent on relationships of people to each other and to iconic cultural references existent in both physical and metaphysical representation. The study will examine the history of Hinemihi, a whare tipuna that was situated at Te Wairoa, Tarawera until the eruption of 1886. She was built in response to the burgeoning tourism trade and she is now situated at Clandon Park, London. Clandon Park is a quintessential English estate, now also a tourist destination. Embedded in her history are significant periods of change for Māori. The study will investigate her relationships with Tuhourangi and Ngāti Hinemihi in her early years through to her relationship with Ngāti Ranana now. Also how she has linked people through whakapapa and now contemporary notions of identity. Māori spaces created in foreign places will be considered drawing on perspectives of people who, through Hinemihi,